Road clear for Day Valley cell project

Day Valley >> In another blow to opponents of wireless technologies, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday declined to stand in the way of a project to improve cellphone service in the rural Day Valley area.

The proposal adds a network of distributed antennas to existing utility poles to bolster service for Verizon customers, but drew opposition from numerous county residents, including a hardy band of wireless opponents who argue that everything from cellphones to PG&E SmartMeters cause health maladies. But federal law prohibits local governments from rejecting wireless proposals based on health concerns, leaving neighbors to argue that the antennae are an eyesore.

"Regardless of what you feel about the effects of (radio frequencies), it looks like hell," said David Imai, a Day Valley neighbor who has led the opposition to the project.

Imai said the project is out of character for the rural neighborhood, where small, sidewalk-less roads crawl over rolling hills. But Crown Castle, a contractor that installs wireless infrastructure on behalf of telecom companies, argued that 30 percent of households have abandoned land lines and that cell service can be a lifeline during emergencies.

"We need wireless infrastructure to support these new users," said Michael Shonafelt, an attorney for Crown Castle.

The 4-1 vote was met with at least one protest of "Fascists!" from the audience. Supervisor Greg Caput voted in favor of taking up the issue, which came to the county board after a vote to approve the project by the county's Planning Commission.

"The saddest thing I can think of is when a corporation comes in and government stands with the corporation," Caput said.

The county also received numerous calls and emails about the project, many of which mistakenly believed the project included construction of new cell towers. It does not.

"We've been asked whether or not we'll take jurisdiction in this case, the (reasons) that you can to take jurisdiction is very narrow," Supervisor Neal Coonerty said.

The board also gave unanimous approval to an eight-month downtown pilot project that combines representatives from several social service and law enforcement agencies to address repeat offenders along Pacific Avenue. Supervisor John Leopold sought standards for determining whether the program, being led by District Attorney Bob Lee, is effective.

Supervisor Bruce McPherson, who represents part of the downtown area, said he strongly supports the idea.

"The way we're approaching this is correct. We're getting departments together, we're getting governing agencies together, to address a problem that knows no boundaries," McPherson said. "We need to see how we can reverse this bad behavior trend of relatively few (people)."